NFL insider explains how Week 10 loss impacts Belichick’s Patriots future originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Just when you thought the New England Patriots‘ situation couldn’t get much worse, Sunday’s Week 10 game against the Indianapolis Colts in Germany proved that it definitely can get worse.
The Patriots offense, largely due to horrendous quarterback play from Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe, failed to find the end zone once in a 10-6 loss. The defeat ended an 89-game win streak for the Patriots when they gave up 10 or fewer points.
New England is now 2-8 and sits at the bottom of the AFC standings. The franchise is at its lowest point in a long, long time.
How does this scenario impact the future of head coach Bill Belichick? Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer joined NBC Sports Boston’s Sports Sunday to discuss.
“I think, honestly, if I’m Robert Kraft right now, I may go to Bill and say, ‘How do you want to do this?'” Breer said. “I think it’s gotten to that point where they should be able to sit down and level with each other and say, ‘Do you want to sever it now and let Jerod Mayo coach out the season? Do you want to go to the end of the season and we can announce it in December and have a nice ceremony for you for the last home game, or do you want to do this the hard way? And we get to the end of the year and then I’ve got to make a decision on you one way or the other.’
“But I do think the bye week gives you the opportunity to address it man-to-man because I think we’re past the point of no return.”
Is it possible Belichick has already been back-channeling with teams in case his Patriots tenure does end at some point before next season?
“I heard some stuff last year and I don’t think that — put it this way, I think he’s going to be prepared for all scenarios,” Breer said.
“There are a couple of teams that he’s been connected to enough where you wonder, Washington, Dallas — I think if there’s an opportunity out there for him and he wants to coach next year, it’ll probably be lined up at least to some degree ahead of time.”
It probably makes the most sense for the Patriots to keep Belichick through the end of the season, and then if they do want to part ways, trading him to an interested team and getting a draft pick in return would be the ideal scenario.
It’s also worth remembering that Belichick is one of the most important figures in the history of the Patriots franchise. Does he deserve to finish out the season and get a proper sendoff?
There are a lot of scenarios to consider before making such a drastic change.